Four Is A Crowd
by Shintouyu
Summary: "Well, a team of three can't be too bad, right?"
1. Five In A Team Is Too Easy!

**Four Is A Crowd**

_Five In A Team Is Too Easy!_

* * *

He walked up to the stage with his teammates as the headmaster called out their names.

"And finally: Sieg Aschelt, Lilium Stel'Ciel, and Reah Von Whitestorm." Their portraits circled into alignment on the two large holo-screens, the first-letter of their name appeared beneath them. His untidy image was flanked by Reah's regal-stern expression and Lilium's stoic face. "The three of you retrieved a Black King piece. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RSL; led by Reah Von Whitestorm."

The girl with icy-blue hair and sapphire eyes snapped her feet together, chest puffed-up proudly, and gave a militaristic salute as she was named team-leader.

Lilium's reptilian-tail curled in displeasure.

The lone boy of the team merely scratched the back of his head, a frown hidden by his scarf. "Well, a team of three can't be too bad, right?" he mumbled. He glanced at the subtly smirking Whitestorm Girl to his right and then to the quietly aggravated Faunus Girl at his left, their eyes locked in mutual dislike. "...Ah, _nope_, this is going to be pretty bad."

Four years suddenly sounded like a really long time.

* * *

**Author Notes**

Just a little idea.

_RSL_ pronounced as_ Roselle_.

Not sure if I should just slap the one-shot label or (try to) continue this.


	2. Next Stop: Beacon Academy!

**Four Is A Crowd**

_Next Stop: Beacon Academy!_

* * *

Let us move back for a moment to a time before Team RSL is formed.

To the large airship which currently ferried Sieg Aschelt to Beacon Academy.

His dusty-ragged attire covered him from head-to-toe and left no hint of his flesh, his unwieldy sword — almost his size and a-half-again — along with his thick greatshield that rested on the wall, gave him a vagabond appearance which kept most other people on the ship from approaching him.

Most people, anyways.

Some loners had moved next to him; a tiny gathering of weirdos and punks it would seem to those on the outside.

He felt somewhat out of place — his dirty appearance quite obvious amongst the wide gallery — but didn't feel uncomfortable at how he was dressed nor did he felt bothered at being used as a deterrent.

_'...But am I really that scary?'_

The news aboard the ship's many holo-screens sauntered on about some criminal — Man-Wick something or another — and about a faunus protest before the broadcast was abruptly cut off by the appearance of a woman taking over the screens.

She was dressed fairly modestly with a white blouse, black bodice, and black skirt — broken only by her devilish purple cape and the small amount of cleavage on display. Her light-blond hair was tied back into a bun with slight asymmetry at the fore as her left softly framed her face while her right was in a curl. And her glasses did little to hide her stunning no-nonsense emerald-green eyes.

She easily drew everyone's attention as they crowded over the screens to get a closer look.

The woman greeted them, stern and sharp as she portrayed.

"Hello, my name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy that will provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world. You have demonstrated your resolve and we expect great things from you all but it will take more than just courage to become Hunters." Her view panned across, a small congratulatory-smile on her face. "Welcome to Beacon Academy, Students."

It was perfectly timed.

Her figure disappeared, the clear view outside of the semi-circular windows left the students feeling awed at the sight.

Immense cliffs separated the towering mass of earth from the shimmering blue sea below. Despite the distance, the majestic Beacon could be easily seen — shining brightly like a lighthouse even in the day's sun — surrounded by the vast green and blue nature of the world.

Sieg adjusted his scarf, his quiet voiced muffled by his face-concealing metal mask. "So that's Beacon, huh?" He fingered around for the pendant hidden underneath his coat; he took it out, opened it up, and gazed softly. It contained a picture of himself, his little sister, and the retired Huntsman who had taken them in.

Memories from the day before trickled back.

_("Sieg, do your best~!") His little sister cheered as she waved goodbye.  
_

_("Brat, don't bother comin' back till ya become a Huntsman, ya hear me?") The gruff man stated with crossed arms and a cocky smile.  
_

He snapped the pendant shut and tucked it away.

_'Don't worry, Linde, Old Man. I've fought Grimms for most of my life, so how hard can a combat-academy be?'_

* * *

**Author Notes**

I normally don't write such short chapters but it seems like this is going to be fairly normal for this story.


	3. First Years, Line Up!

**Four Is A Crowd**

_First Years, Line Up!_

* * *

Three large airships docked on the sky-port of Beacon Academy and the new arrivals aboard them were quick to depart for a better view of the prestigious campus.

However, before they could explore on their own, each exiting group soon found themselves greeted by a pair of prefects.

"Over here, Firsties!" called out a rather tall and blond man as he waved to his assigned group — in particular, the one that Sieg Aschelt was in — beckoned them to come quickly. He introduced himself when they finally arrived, one hand on his hip with his legs spread heroically wide. "I'm a Fourth Year: Rock Waltafela!"

Next to him was a very short girl with pink-colored hair. Her features were doll-like and it was hard to imagine that she was an upperclassman. She lazily raised her hand and only spoke her name as loud as a whisper. "Nonono Pretter."

They were dressed in Beacon's uniform. The male uniform was a black blazer with gold-lining, a white dress-shirt under a blue vest, a red tie, and black slacks. The female uniform was a similar outfit — a dark reddish-brown blazer with gold-lining, a white dress-shirt under a tan vest, a red ribbon, and a red skirt with a black, red, and gold plaid. Both Rock and Nonono had distinct orange armbands to denote their status as prefects.

"Now, I'm sure you're all excited to be here and super eager to go exploring the school and all that, but orientation comes first, Firsties! So you better follow us or you'll be late and you _definitely_ don't want to be late; Professor Goodwitch doesn't take kindly to tardiness!"

Nonono sharply crossed her arms into an x. "Punishment befalls you."

"Hahaha! Right, right," the male prefect energetically nodded his head, "So let's move along before we _all_ get into trouble!"

Despite the suggested urgency, Rock at the front and Nonono at the back led the group of new students rather leisurely and allowed them time to soak in the sights around them.

Sieg couldn't quite describe the architecture of Beacon. Spires upon spires, arches connecting spires, ornately paved paths, blue holo-banners hanging on street-lamps, trees and flowering bushes dotted the field in an organized manner; it was very grand but not gaudy.

[...]

Sieg Aschelt's group was eventually led into the circular floor-room of the academy's amphitheater — the huge wooden doors closed behind as the last group entered after them. The room was filled with a near-hundred number of new arrivals.

They had a brief moment to chatter before a cough from the stage called for their attention.

The man was dressed stylishly in three different hues of green for his suit, vest, pants, and turtle-neck shirt or sweater. He had a cane and, despite his gray mop of hair, did not appear to be a man older than his thirties. Glynda Goodwitch stood attentively off to his left side and was certainly more beautiful and stern in person than what the holo-screens could portray. Thus everyone figured — if they had not already known — that the man standing on stage was quite obviously none other than Headmaster Ozpin.

"Ahem..." he pushed up his small black circle-shaped glasses, "I'll keep this brief. You are here to better yourselves — to hone your craft and acquire new skills, to dedicate your life and future to the protection of the people. But, _here_, I look amongst you... and all I see is _misguided youth_. You assume knowledge will enlighten you and free you of such adolescence, but you shall soon learn that knowledge can only carry you so far. Students Of Beacon — Hunters-In-Training — temper your resolves because it is up to _you_ to take the first step."

A few were peeved at being called misguided youths. Others were not quite certain about that the man's dismissive attitude. Some were glad that the stuffy formality was brushed over quickly. Those who listened intently kept his words as wisdom. But most people simply planned to do their best anyways as the speech didn't sound all too different from what they would normally hear.

Sieg was part of the very last group; the words had went in one ear and out the other. He was here to become a Hunter. He had years of fighting Grimms under his belt and thought of Beacon Academy as a mere formality at getting his license. One way or another, he was going to become a Hunter, no matter how dangerous people said it was.

The headmaster briskly walked away from the stage and left Goodwitch to take his place.

"Tonight you will sleep in the ballroom and tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready, Students. Dismissed."

[...]

The prefects from before were quick to fill in the void of authority.

In particular, Rock Waltafela boomed loud and above the volume of the crowd, "Over here, Firsties! Follow us if you want a tour of the place!"

_'Sounds like a plan. I've got nothing to do and I'd rather not get lost later on.'_

Sieg wandered off into a random direction — away from Rock Waltafela — and ended up following a prefect with blue slicked-back hair who had belt of a pistols holstered on his waist and even on his back. Their group was the second-to-last to leave the amphitheater when they had finally numbered around twenty people.

He adjusted his tie, swept back his hair, "I am Antonis Avetti," and tilted his head back with a scowl on his face, "After this little tour is over, I expect none of you newbies to bother me again, capiche?" A couple of students hurriedly nodded their head.

The prefect was concise — perhaps _too_ concise in Sieg's opinion — in that he explained what and where things were but didn't elaborate on how things worked. A number of students easily started to feel confused, if not uncertain, about the tour.

At one point, a minor explosion had occurred somewhere on the school's ground, but Antonis had merely said it wasn't his problem to look into and had promptly ignored it.

[...]

"This is the First-Year Dining-Hall." It was already filled with students getting or eating their lunch and the delectable smell of a well-made meal wafted tantalizingly in the air. "Tour's over. You're dismissed, Newbies. If you have anymore questions, ask someone else." Antonis lazily waved his hand and walked away.

With the prefect gone, a few people were quick to complain about how terrible of a guide he was and bonded over their mutual dislike.

Sieg was preoccupied with other things, namely his rumbling stomach. "Finally, I can get something to eat."

The meal being served was far more than what Sieg would normally eat. A small-sized bowl of soup and bread or bowl of rice were the appetizers, some sort of refreshingly nice-smelling herbal tea was the drink, and the main dish was some chicken-legs, a couple of boneless fishes, and a saucy pasta. It was practically a feast in his eyes.

He quickly found an empty spot amongst the many long tables and took a seat.

"You stink."

Sieg turned his head toward the speaker.

It was a girl that was a tad shorter than most. Her neck-length chocolate-brown hair was tied into a left side-tail. She had bright reddish-orange eyes which didn't quite fit with her stoically-bored expression on that baby-face of her's and wore some rather tight-fitting clothes — shiny black short-shorts, thigh-highs, fingerless-gloves, and something lime-green under her brownish comically-oversized hoodie. She was also a faunus if the flame-colored reptilian-tail was any indication.

"You stink," she repeated with an expression that didn't actually look bothered, "Can you not sit so close to me?"

"Ah, uh, sure."

He scooted back. She nudged her head. He scooted back some more. She nudged her head again. He scooted back even more. By now there was enough room for another person to sit between them. She nudged her head once again.

Sieg stopped. "Hey, don't you think you're asking for a bit too much?"

"No, you stink like shit." Sieg frowned and then scooted closer. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm not moving anymore. I am sitting here _and_ I am eating here. If you don't like it, then _you_ move." Without waiting for her response, Sieg removed his mask and placed it on his lap.

He picked up his spoon and fork and chowed down. He ignored the atmosphere and other occupants as he gobbled up his meal quickly. His manner was atrocious and his noise obnoxiously loud, he only finished half of everything on his tray, but the teen was swift to leave the table within minutes of his guzzling.

His mood had dropped to the point where he couldn't even recall whether the food was delicious or not and the meal which sat in stomach only made him feel half-empty.

"That sucked."

[...]

Before night could fall, Sieg Aschelt found a spot underneath the stairs to occupy in the ballroom, he wanted to avoid space-issues like that from the dining hall. Unfortunately, there were still several more hours before night could claim dominance over day.

Such a large amount of free-time was an oddity to him. Training, hunting down Grimms, odd-jobs, and playing with his little sister Linde was where most of his time had went. The closest thing he had to a hobby was drawing people — or doodling as he personally thought of it — but had...

No, wait. Could it be?

He rummaged through his tiny satchel.

Aha! He did indeed have a sketchbook and a pencil on him. Linde must have stuffed it in his satchel, which would have explained why it was little weightier than it should have been. He recalled quite fondly that she had insisted on him getting a new one for when he attended Beacon, so it was still completely blank of content.

_'Guess I should fill it up for her.'_

The teen took off his mask and tried to relaxed. He started drawing the people he had seen today, or at least the ones who stood out enough that he could remember: mature Professor Glynda Goodwitch, loud and jolly Rock Waltafela, little doll-like Nonono Pretter, Headmaster Ozpin, almost aloof Antonis Avetti, and that bratty you-stink faunus girl.

Sieg drew slowly so night had mostly fallen by the time he was finished and the ballroom was now lit by moon-and-candle light. He could hear the rustle of the many sleeping-bags, the snores of some early sleepers, and the chit-chat of those too excited to go to sleep.

He felt stiff for sitting prone for so long. He yawned, packed up his stuff, stretched, and yawned again.

_'I'm more tired than I thought.'_

Rolling his head, Sieg set out to grab a sleeping-bag for himself.

That's when he finally noticed the racket that filled the air.

"What in the world is going on over here?! Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?!"

"Oh, not you again!" "Oh, not you again!"

It was a group of three girls as far as he could tell. One with long straight white-hair in a nightgown, another who seemed the youngest with short reddish-black hair and wearing a tank-top with polka-dotted pajamas pants, while the last person looked the oldest had long wild golden-hair who was also in a tank-top and shorts.

"Shh! Guys, she's right! People are trying to sleep!"

"Oh, now you're on _my_ side?"

"I was always on your side!"

"Yeah, what's your problem with my sister?! She's only trying to be nice!"

"She's a hazard to my health!"

Sieg tried to tune them out but it was to his misfortune — and many others — that the night was still young.

* * *

**Author Notes**

Rock Waltafela and Nonono Pretter are part of Team NWVR (pronounced New-verse). Meanwhile, Antonis Avetti is part of Team CAKE much to his misfortune.

Chapter Three was suppose to be a part of Chapter Two but since so many characters appeared in this one — named or otherwise — I decided to separate them.


	4. Once More Stop At Beacon And Line Up!

**Four Is A Crowd**

_Once More Stop At Beacon And Line Up!_

* * *

Let us move back again, to a time before Team RSL is formed.

To the scenes just a step away from Sieg Aschelt.

A brief look at the two other who would soon become his future teammates.

[...]

Lilium Stel'Ciel sat quietly on her seat, as still a statue, and as cute as most people found girls of her short size to be. However, to the delicate few who tried to strike a conversation with her, they soon discovered that she had a mouth that was a tad fouler than expected.

_("Huh? Didn't your mother ever tell you not to ask for a lady's age? I guess that's why you don't have a girlfriend.") ("I'm not here to make friends, especially with weaklings like you.") ("Don't act so chummy with me, it's bothersome. Leave, or I'll bite you to death.")_

Rumors of the little foul-mouthed faunus-girl quickly spread and people were swift to avoid her. It wouldn't be wrong to say that she had made enemies out of everybody on the entire airship. However, she hardly cared about what anyone thought about her.

After the airship landed, Lilium passively went with the flow. She followed the prefects, listened to the headmaster's speech, took the tour around the academy, and then the moment for lunch eventually came.

She sat with neither company on her right or left — all too intimidated to sit beside her. At least, _that_ was how it should have been. Soon enough, an oblivious person who couldn't read the atmosphere just plopped himself down next to her.

_'Who the heck is this?'_

The weirdo wore ragged and faded clothing, seemingly as if he had recently come crawling out from some underground pit. His weapons were so bulky that they simply radiated a sense of sheer heaviness to them. He wore a somewhat creepy and smooth but featureless-mask that concealed his face. But, more importantly, he was sitting way too close for her comfort.

"You stink," she told him. It wasn't exactly true but it wasn't entirely wrong either. He had an odd smell that she couldn't quite describe; _earthy_ came to mind. He turned his head but she couldn't tell what expression he had behind his mask, so she repeated herself once again with only a little more force. "You stink. Can you not sit so close to me?"

He seemed a bit startled. "Ah, uh, sure."

He scooted away. She nudged her head. He scooted away some more. She nudged her head again. He scooted away even more. By now there was enough room for another person to sit between them. She nudged her head once again.

He stopped, a hand clenched into a fist before loosening. "Hey, don't you think you're asking for a bit too much?"

"No, you stink like shit." To her surprise, the contrast between her docile appearance and harsh words didn't scare him away. Instead, the guy irritatingly scooted over closer. She tensed up and resisted the urge to strike out at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm not moving anymore," he stated defiantly, "I am sitting here _and_ I am eating here. If you don't like it, then _you_ move."

She really wanted to tear out his neck. But, no, she restrained herself; hands clenched and tail curled, a low hiss-and-growl released at him but so easily ignored. The weirdo paid her no mind as he removed his mask and started eating like he was a starving man.

Lilium couldn't get a proper look at his face due to his slightly obscuring hood but he was not as ugly as she had imagined him. She thought he was hiding some sort of disfigurement or secret behind his mask but that turned out not to be the case. He looked fairly normal with his messy black hair and freshly-bread-baked golden-brown eyes, though his skin was a bit on the pale side of things.

_'So plain.'_

She wasn't sure if she should have been disappointed or not. She should have felt bad for judging how hideous he might have been only based on what he wore but she quickly found that she didn't give a grimm's ass about that. Humans judged her for being a Faunus, what did it matter if she did the same to them?

Huh. That was a curious thought. Her eyes trailed the hood looking for signs of extra appendages poking from within, _'Maybe it's the hood and not the mask that's hiding something...'_

She didn't have long to inspect him, though.

It only took the weirdo a few minutes to fill up his stomach before he reattached his mask and walked away from the table.

Lilium watched him go and suddenly she had lost her appetite. She chewed lightly on her lips and quietly moaned. The idea that he could have been a fellow Faunus was quickly overwhelmed.

_RIP AND TEAR. RIP AND TEAR. RIP AND TEAR. RIP AND TEAR. RIP AND TEAR.  
_

A feeling of something akin to wrath bubbled within her and she wanted to beat that aggravating weirdo into a bloody pulp.

She bit her lips harder, clenched her fists tighter, and flesh was easily torn as they lightly bled. It was happening again. She suppressed her anger and hastily left the dining hall to find a secluded place to calm down.

[...]

The first time she saw him was at the amphitheater.

It wasn't because of his dirty attire that she noticed him. No, that was the second thing she had realized about him. It was because of his _humongous_ sword and shield which strikingly caught her attention.

_'Is he serious?'_

Such terribly bulky weapons were out of place in this world dominated by sleeker weapons and warriors who favored speed and compactness. Bigger wasn't always better. It made her mildly curious about what sort of brute would use such inelegant tools and about what kind of madman would have created those obscene monstrosities.

He might have just been a rare idiot but his balance and posture said otherwise.

His weapons weren't just for show. He knew how to use them.

That her made slightly more curious about how well she would do against this unorthodox fighter.

After that, the second time she saw him was at the dining hall.

He was still carrying around his clunky equipment despite the fact that most everyone had already stored away theirs in the temporary lockers that were given after the tour of the academy. Then again, it didn't look like they would even fit inside the locker. But surely the academy would have found some place to store larger objects?

She reasoned that he kept his weapons close-by for protection. She wasn't one to judge about self-protection since she kept knives hidden on her body as well but she idly wondered why he couldn't get less conspicuous tools for the job.

And, as luck would have it, Reah Von Whitestorm would get to see him for a third time.

...Where she was allowed to satisfy her curiosity on the day of the initiation test.

* * *

**Author Notes**

A brief look into Lilium Stel'Ciel and an even briefer look into Reah Von Whitestorm.


	5. Underground Ruins Are Exciting!

**Four Is A Crowd**

_Underground Ruins Are Exciting!_

* * *

The morning was a bit of a blur to Sieg.

Instead of just letting the slackers or heavy sleepers remain asleep and fail, the prefects rushed everyone out to get tidy and presentable for the initiation test. The flurry of motions could only really be described as chaotic because not a single person was prepared to wake up _before_ the crack of dawn. The urgent words of the hustling and bustling prefects seemed to buzz at their minds and nobody was really sure when they had been split off into random groups again.

By the time he realized it, after walking a mind-numbingly long way with a syrupy aftertaste in his mouth, he was standing next to a cliff somewhere west — or was it east? — of Beacon Academy.

"That's a long way down," he mumbled to himself as he looked down the cliffside. He briefly wondered where the the rest of the other students were, _'I guess they're taking their test elsewhere...' _before stifling a yawn and lightly stretching.

A somewhat stocky and elderly — but not too old — gentleman stood next to the cliff with his hands behind his back. His gray hair was combed neatly to the sides, his thick eyebrows had a serpentine-curve to them, and his comically-large mustache covered up his entire mouth from view.

"Hey ho, students! It's always nice to see such eager faces just raring to prove themselves on the field of battle!" He was a rather jolly person, though a bit of his energy was taken down a notch when he noticed that none of the students were quite as jovial as himself. "Yes, _well_, today is your initiation test, young huntsmen and huntresses. Your skills will be tested at the Sapphire Shore down below us and you will be graded on how well you perform. If you have any questions, you should ask now before the test begins."

A high-class girl raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"What is the objective of our test and how will we be evaluated, sir?"

"Hmm, yes, down at the base of the Sapphire Shore are multiple entrances that will lead you to a fairly large ruin that is just brimming with Grimm." The elderly professor seemed to had a habit of pacing around and gesturing with one arm while he spoke. "Inside those ruins, we have hidden some relics and your goal will be to retrieve them. As for your grades, it will be primarily based on your speed and efficiency at getting in and out of the ruins with your relic."

"Understood," she nodded, "How will we identify the relics?"

"You'll know them when you see them but I'll give you a hint: black or gold as opposed to blue," he answered briskly and then quickly raised a finger, "Ah, another thing! The amount of relics that we've hidden are limited, there won't be enough for each of you. Only those who are able to bring back a relic will score well on this test."

"Hm?" Sieg felt like something was odd about the statement just now but couldn't quite put his finger on it. His mind was thinking elsewhere. _'Not enough relics; so we're competing against each other, huh? This could get dicey.' _He knew that fighting people was far more difficult than just fighting the Grimm.

Another student was crouched over at the edge and staring below, "So how do we get down?"

"That will be up to you." The elderly gent raised his hand, "Well then, your test begins..." and chopped it down, "Now!"

There was a slight pause of recognition as everyone blinked before they began scrambling off and down the immense cliff.

Sieg jumped atop his greatshield — one foot hooked under the handle — and used it as a board while he used his ultra-greatsword behind him as a brake-and-balance. The experience was pretty similar to the rugged mountain-surfing he did back home, so long as he avoided the concave areas of the cliff-face then he could just surf his whole way down without much of a problem.

To his misfortune though, his method was by far one of the slowest.

The majority of people were those who had immediately plummeted off the cliff and planned to use their high-impact weapons to slow down their descent as soon they neared the bottom. Everyone else, which were not many, was jumping from ledge-to-ledge because they lacked the high-power concussiveness of the former.

He still had more than one-tenth of the way to go, while most everyone else were hitting the halfway mark.

"Too slow!" he scolded himself, "I'm falling way behind!"

_'There's always that,'_ his mind supplied.

_'I hate that,'_ he argued back.

_'Time's running out.'_

"Ah, grimm-shit!" he growled in frustration. His head frantically swept left and right as he looked for anything jutting that he could use as a ramp. He found one, to the pleasure of his wry smile. "This is gonna suck! This is gonna suck! This is gonna suck!" he repeated as his mantra while the inevitability of the ramp came closer. His greatshield soon skid off and sailed into the air. Time seemed to stop as he hung in the air for a moment, then gravity returned with a vengeance and left him helplessly spinning in freefall.

"This! Is! Gonna! SSSUUUUCCCCCKKKKKK!"

[...]

His body felt like jello, his head was ringing, his eyes were all a blur, his throat... oh, there we go. He turned over from his back, fumbled as he tore away his mask, and puked out his golden-baked breakfast. The acid clung to his tongue and throat and soon sobered him right up from his bout of dizziness.

He wiped his mouth on his sleeves and idly wondered just how much time had he wasted on being dazed? It was probably equal to the amount of time he had hoped to save from the wild fall in the first place.

Sieg picked up his mask and clipped it onto his belt. The fresh but salty air coming from the sea was much preferred over his own sour mess. He crawled and then stumbled out of the sand-pit — nothing broken but everything ached. It wasn't luck that he survived, merely a combination of his semblance granting him enhanced toughness along with the ever-usefulness of his greatshield's shock-absorber that allowed him to come out fairly uninjured despite the madness of it all.

He luckily didn't need to search far to find an entrance to the ruins because there was one right in front of him.

_'Hope there's still a relic for me to find, though...'_

He tripped once or twice on the way but he knew that he would be a-okay soon enough.

Granted, after the tenth trip or so, he decided that it wouldn't hurt him to take a little rest before he carried on...

[...]

It was damp. It was cool. It was surprisingly not as dark as he had imagined despite the deep shadows.

Little luminescent fungus and moss grew here and there along the artificially-carved stone floors and the natural-rocky walls. Their teal-colored glow lit enough of the ruins in a patchwork-fashion for it to be safely navigated. If he could, Sieg would have just sat down and draw a picture of this place, but time was of the essence.

He wandered around with his ears perked, trying to find more sound other than the drip-drops that came from the ceiling, the soft howling winds which often brushed by, or the splish-splosh of the unseen waves further down below. It wasn't being alone that bothered him nor was it the chance of being ambushed. _'Did everyone else already grab a relic and leave already?'_ He couldn't help but feel uncertain and apprehensive as he went deeper and deeper into the ruins.

**_Thud. Clank._**

Sieg definitely heard _that _due to the echoes of this place; it sounded like a body and a weapon had dropped to the floor.

"Hey!" he shouted to the inky silhouette some ways ahead.

It saw him and quickly retreated down one of the many winding paths. The thumping of their hasty running soon disappeared.

Sieg didn't bother giving chase — the Grimm never retreated, as far as he knew — and he was almost positively certain that the escaped-silhouette was simply another student.

_'Maybe I still got a chance after all...'_

It was a bit of a relief for him to know that there were still people in here. Though he promptly ignored the tingling thoughts at the back of his mind that questioned whether they were also late like him, simply lost, or just didn't realize that were — perhaps — no more relics to be had.

Eventually Sieg reached a body sprawled on the floor and went to checked up on her. "Still alive..." He didn't exactly care for well-being of the stranger but he didn't exactly wish death to every random person either. "But that's at least one competition out of the way..." His eyes soon spotted a battleaxe laying besides her, _'It'd be troublesome if she wakes up,'_ and kicked it over the ledge, _'without her weapon, she'll have to give up exploring the ruins.'_

He then scratched the back of his head. "But, shit, did that other guy have a relic on him? Should I chase him down?"

_'They're probably long gone.'_

_**Clang! Clang! Clang!**_

"Hm? Wait, what was that?"

_'Opportunity, that's what. Get a move on!'_

Sieg chased down the noise until he finally arrived at the battlefield.

Around the two combatants was a mountain of corpses. He couldn't identify what kind of Grimm they once belonged to — as he wasn't familiar with the aquatic or amphibious-types — but he didn't dwell on that and hid himself behind the pile of black-and-white bodies.

His attention was on the two female combatants.

He recognized both of them; the faunus-girl from the dining-hall yesterday and the high-class girl asking questions from this morning.

The reptilian-girl used a lance as her weapon — a fairly heavy one-way weapon with charges as its specialty that generally had trouble at engaging in rigorous melee. To Sieg's surprise, she had a somewhat creative way of utilizing her weapon's primary method of attack: she darted non-stop all over the field and ricocheted from any direction like a particularly nasty and relentless hornet.

Her opponent, however, was no slouch either.

The high-class girl with icy-white hair tied into a ponytail easily kept up with the speedy multi-directional assault. She had two swords — the right was longer than the left — with ornate crossguards that shielded the wielder's hands. Her offense was equally as good as defense as she constantly exchanged attacks and counterattacks at every charge sent her way.

"Surrender! I shall never be defeated by a sub-human such as you!"

"Shut up, you fucking bitch! I'll tear you apart!"

_'Hah... it's nothing but trouble if I get involve with their fight.'_ Losing interest, Sieg looked around for the thing that _might_ have started their fight.

It didn't take very long for him to spot a marble-black object amongst the bleak-blue ruins.

It was a distinctly smooth object, which say atop a pedestal, that looked sleek and new compared to the aged and worn ruins around it. _'That must be one of the relics for the test.'_ It was also, fortunately, some distance away from the center of battle. He stuck to edge, behind the mountain of grimm-corpses, as he sneaked over to the pedestal. He got a closer look at the relic — a pillar with a cross — before he stuffed it into his pouch without a second thought. _'Now let's get out of he-'_

"Halt, you thief!"

"Freeze, asshole!"

Sieg frowned as he turned around to see sword and lance pointed his way. "Ah, grimm-shit."

The faunus-girl was the first to charge as she rocketed toward him, her lance hit the center against his thick greatshield. He briefly buckled under the hit, his body still sore, but he remained steady.

It took a moment for her to recognize him — or rather, it was the rectangular-shield blocking her entire view that clued her to his identity. "It's_ you_! I'll bite you to death!" Without warning, her lance spun to life as it rotated ferociously, a high-pitched screech filled the air.

Sieg could feel his arms rattling. "THAT'S A FREAKING_ DRILL_?!"

She roared at him, as though the action would grant her more strength; apparently it did, as she began to push him back. Sieg grunted and activated his semblance — the already sturdy greatshield suddenly increased in hardness, he pushed forward and steadily advanced. The reptililian-faunus struggled as her drilling-lance's rotation speed went from a raging screech to a cackling chip.

The dual-wielder wanted to be known as she jumped in and attacked the unprepared faunus on the side with a two-hit attack and sent them flying. With the resistance suddenly gone, Sieg over extended himself and gave the girl a great view of his exposed back. She immediately locked on and attacked him with a flurry of thrusts before he could react.

But the high-class girl was the one in for a surprise. Every hit almost felt like she was hitting the solid bone-armor of a Grimm.

Sieg let go of his greatshield and grabbed his ultra-greatsword with two hands and swung as fast as he could. The dual-wielder saw his moves from a mile a way — the large wind-up time made even the slowest of Grimm seem fast — and performed a back-flip to avoid it. She momentarily flinched as the blade just barely swiped passed her, she scowled when she realized that she had greatly underestimated the ridiculously-sized blade's reach. Sieg slashed again and she easily dodged that as well but his blade striking the ground made the floor shudder and groan.

"Ah, grimm-shit!" The structures of the ruins — such as the one he was currently fighting on — weren't exactly in prime condition; one wrong move and the whole thing could just collapse into the dark waters below.

Sieg reluctantly dropped his ultra-greatsword and then switched to a fist-fighting stance that were typical of street or bar brawlers.

He felt his head being suddenly stomped on as the faunus-girl suddenly returned with a wicked vengeance. She roared and pounced at the other girl, "Fuck off! This fucking bitch is mines!"

_"You can have her!"_ he wanted to shout back.

But, Sieg was quickly dragged into the messy fight, and everything just went downhill from there.

[...]

All three of them were heavily out of stamina, deep panting filled the air as they gasped for breath. Their clothes were soaked with sweat and dirtied by all their rough-housing about. They had small cuts and bruises all over them — the sign of their long and violent struggle which had drained their protective aura.

Sieg was lying on the ground; courtesy of the reptilian-girl by way of a flying-knee. Other than the light lingering sensation of pain, his jaw was quite alright. He propped himself up on all four, rolled his shoulders, and then straightened himself as slowly he stood up. He gave the two girls an agitated glare before trying to trod off.

Key word being 'try'.

They didn't react well to being so casually dismissed nor did they approve of him still having the relic. The two of them immediately ganged up on him before he could even take more than three steps. The icy-haired high-class girl tightly caught onto his scarf with a menacing grip, while the faunus-girl leaped onto his back and attempted a headlock on him.

"You're not getting away!" they both said in unison, their hot-breath huffing and puffing in the front and back of his head.

"Can't you two just leave me alone already?!" Sieg angrily shouted.

The icy-haired girl stared him in the eyes, "Return... the relic to me... thief!"

He wanted to make a retort that he didn't steal anything but the faunus-girl increased the pressure of her choke. "That relic... is _mine_!" she hissed in his ear.

Sieg's face twitched. _'Screw them, I don't need to deal with this kind of shit.'_ Wordlessly, he started moving; it vaguely looked like he was wading through a swamp. He figured if he ignored them long enough then they would give up eventually.

"H-Hey!" the dual-wielder yelped and almost stumbled while she kept her grip on his scarf. "...Where do you think you're going?" He picked up his sword and shield and dragged them across the floor; he simply continued on his way. Because she did not get her answer, she would rather walk on her own two legs than to be lead around. She begrudgingly let go of his scarf.

The reptilian-girl wrapped her legs around him and once again strengthened the force of her choke as she tried to evoke a response from him. "Hey, don't go all quiet on us!"

Sieg kept his mouth shut and bore with it.

Perhaps that was not his best choice.

The faunus growled and took a bite out of his neck. He yelped in surprise before he automatically activated his semblance. Instantly, it was like she was trying to chew through solid stone with a roughness akin to sandpaper; she winced and stopped biting.

"You can't keep this up forever, Meatbag!"

He pulled his head back and hit her nose.

She screamed and tightened her squeeze. "You're fucking dead!"

Try as she might, the exhausted girl on his back didn't have much strength left to be any more than a nuisance.

[...]

"Hey, Hard Skinned Weirdo... we're lost, aren't we?"

_'Hm? What was that?'_

"Like seriously fucking lost."

_'Where's it coming from?'_

"I can't believe we're fucking lost, damn-it!"

_'Shit. Can't hear over all her freaking complaining!'_

He put a finger to his lips, turned around, and hushed them to be quiet.

The reptilian-girl, who had long since recovered her strength and started walking on her own, did not take too kindly to his gesture. "Don't try to shut me up!"

Sieg grimaced before he repeated his action. "Be quiet for a moment, will ya? Thought I heard something."

The icy-haired teen perked up her ears to listen and moved a hand toward the pommel of one of her swords. "...What exactly did you hear?"

The other girl sneered at them both. "What, you two _scared_ of the _big-bad monsters_ in the dark?"

She scoffed, "I know not the meaning of fear."

As the two females began to bicker, Sieg tuned the both of them out to searched for the sound again. He couldn't quite identify what he had heard but if he had to describe it then it would be something between 'skitter' and 'slither'. _'I'm getting the creeps just thinking about it... Hm?!'_ He quickly raised his hand, "Wait, there it is again!"

The urgency in his voice made them paused.

The dual-wielder nodded, "I heard it as well. Something is here."

The faunus-girl tucked her hands into the pocket of her hoodie, "...Well? Where's it coming from?"

"Can't tell, the echoes in the cave is bouncing it everywhere."

She snorted at him, "Useless. Alright, I'll _find_ that damn monster for you."

Red-orange eyes peered into the shadows and the darkness peeled away in her gaze. However, she raised a brow when part of the darkness still remained, she blinked several times to clear up her sight but the darkness did not fade away. _That_ was when she noticed the squirming. Her hand reached for her folded weapon as her head followed the massive shadowy trail. It stretched far beyond what she could follow; further in from where they had come and further in from where they were heading to.

"What'dya see?"

She didn't need to say, for it struck out from the shadows above.

Sieg's natural reaction was to jump at the forefront of where he expected the danger to come from and rely on his mighty greatshield to protect him. The shield did its job but that had only allowed the two large and powerful pincers to close around him before lifting him off his feet. With its target un-crushed and body still in one piece, it stopped, then raised the human up and thrashed its head about. Sieg expressed his fear in a very simple manner: he screamed. "FUUCCCKKK MMMMEEEEE!"

The faunus-girl and the dual-wielder were off to the side, as far as they could stand without going over the edge, because the Grimm's segmented body took much of the width of their path — the many skittering legs were too close for their comfort. They sort of watched in disbelief as the insectoid plowed through, the boy's screams growing ever distant, but then they remembered that _he_ still had the relic.

The reptilian-girl cursed, unfolded her weapon, and activated its alternative mode. She jumped up high over the Grimm's body and then straight down. The drill seemed to cackle maniacally as it pinned the monster's trailing body and arrested its forward momentum. Soon enough the drill managed to gore through the black-carapace and into the floor as well.

Meanwhile, the high-class girl had run on ahead but could not catch up. She could see the boy struggling to get out but was otherwise safe from harm. Without warning, the Grimm screeched in horrifying pain and jolted straight, its movement stopped for whatever reason. She pulled out the longer of her two swords and gripped it with both hands, the complex array etched on its fuller shimmered before lightning surged through the blade. She kept on running, blade leveled horizontally from her chest, simply slicing through the many legs like a hot knife on butter as she made her way forward.

Sieg was sent flying when the centipede screeched. He considered it a stroke of luck, even when he hit the ceiling face-first and then down onto an arch back-first. He crumpled for a moment but quickly regained his bearing because the entire platform was rumbling beneath him. He could see the dual-wielder closing in — blade blue-hot — but considered the apparently now-stuck Grimm to be a higher priority on his list of things to deal with.

He tossed away his greatshield, two-handed his ultra-greatsword, charged toward the Grimm, then settled himself in a stance that clearly denoted an over-head swing.

"I've had enough of you!"

The blade grew thinner as the width snapped together to increase the length to twice its size, the vents on the crossguard opened up to hiss out hot steam, blazing red energy flared to life around the blade and doubled the reach of the already questionable sword.

He swung and cut the thrashing monster in half. The body went splat against the bridge before the cut-halves slid off the edge and dangled uselessly. However, his moment of reprieve and safety was cut short due to the continuing rumbling that should have stopped with the Grimm's demise.

"What's going on?!" Sieg shouted as he picked up his greatshield. The luminescent lights in front of him were rapidly disappearing and he could hear the constant splash of heavy objects dropping into the waters below. "Oh, you _gotta_ be kidding me!"

The ruins was collapsing.

He ran for the exit; contrary to what the faunus-girl thought, they were very close to the entrance of the ruin that he had come from.

He could see the icy-haired girl ahead of him and the reptilian-girl far ahead of her. But, better yet, he could see the light of the end of the tunnel just ahead of them both. He continued running hard, even after crossing onto solid and stable ground, his worn feet pounded heavily with every stomp but the feeling of pain was long numbed. Soon he could run no more and collapsed onto the damp floor. His lungs demanded oxygen and he greedily sucked up the fresh sea-salted air that blew in from the cave-entrance that he was just so ever close to reaching.

Finally, every thing was over.

But not quite.

The icy-haired girl unsheathed her second sword; the sliding noise an ominous tone to the boy's ears.

"It's time that we decide on who shall be leaving with the relic."

The faunus paused before rolling her shoulders and chuckling, weapon at the ready. "Aahhh? Is that so? Well, fine, by me! I've got a score to settle with the _both_ of you fuckers!"

Sieg palmed his entire face and groaned.

"...Why me?!"

The fight for the relic started anew.

* * *

**Author Notes**

This was unexpectedly long because I pretty much rewrote the entire chapter.

Also, how are you fine readers doing? Are you properly protected from the heat (that may or may exist depending where you live on this Earth)? Because I'm not.


	6. Initiation Test: Cleared!

**Four Is A Crowd**

_Initiation Test: Cleared!_

* * *

Sieg laid slumped on the wall as he faked unconsciousness.

He had taken a drop-kick to the head and decided it was a good time as any to break away from the three-way-fight.

_'Alright... Let's wait it out and take down the winner.'_

It was a bit of a cheap tactic but if he wanted to be the last person standing then he would use every dirty trick as he could think of.

Going from the sounds he heard, it was the icy-haired girl with the upper-hand in this fight. He couldn't say he surprised at that, because she had a lot more finesse than either him or the faunus-girl. Still, upper-hand or not, the fight continued to last well to half-an-hour and more.

_'They're running on fumes. They're running on fumes. They're running on fumes.'_ He repeated to himself, his patience running quite dry. There was no way for the two girls to keep this going, not unless they actually planned to kill one other.

"I'M GOING TO ENJOY RIPPING OUT YOUR SKULL AND GUTTING IT INTO A SOUP BOWL, YOU FUCKING CUNT!"

"I'll mount your decapitated head on my wall!"

_'Okay, maybe they will!'_ This was getting out of hand. Sieg opened his eyes, quickly assessed the situation, and then made his move. He charged, arms wide open, "Calm! The! Freak! Down!" and tackled both girls down to the ground with his bear hug. They struggled but neither of the two could muster any real strength to break out.

The faunus-girl was furious. "AH?! ...I thought... _Hah_... I'd... _Hah_... knock you out...?!"

The icy-haired girl was equally furious — at herself and him — as she silently glared daggers.

_'Now what?'_ Perhaps he should have thought this through more. _'Okay, so I've stopped them from killing each other... now how do I stop them from killing me?'_ The three remained awkwardly immobile for sometime before a thought of sheer brilliance — if Sieg could say so himself — struck him while he was looking longingly at the exit. _'So close... so close...! If I only I could jus- Wait a sec, I can!'_ He realized that he had the two girls restrained, so long as he exited the ruins with the relic in his pouch then he would neatly pass the test.

He would have to leave his weapons behind but it was a quick jog back to retrieve them.

There was a slight difficulty getting back up due to the reptilian-girl's struggle and the high-class girl's glower which promised sweet vengeance for this humiliation but he eventually managed to stand up and waddle away.

Soon enough, Sieg crossed the threshold — the shift from dark to light momentarily blinded him — and heard clapping.

"Congratulations! The three of you have passed the Initiation Test!"

A confused 'Wha?' and squinting revealed that the portly professor was in front of him. "We... passed?" The two girls were equally confused, though they grumbled when they dropped and fell forward because the boy had suddenly let go.

The icy-haired girl was the first to recover. She sent one last glare at the boy before focusing her attention on the elder gent. "Sir, I don't understand. How could the three of us passed? You had stated us that only those who returned with the relic would pass. _He_," she nudged her head and begrudgingly admitted, "has the relic. Not me nor her."

"Tut, tut!" the man wagged a finger, "You have misinterpreted my words, Miss Whitestorm. I never said that you would not pass without a relic, only that you would score better if you had come back with one!"

"WHHAAATTTT? Are you kidding me?" Sieg groaned, "If the relic didn't matter then what was the point of the test then?!" He could scarcely believe that all his hard work — and trouble in that damn cave — was all for nothing.

The professor raised his hand, "Before you ask anymore questions, allow me to explain the purpose of this test." They remained silent. "As future Hunters, this test is — shall we say — a likely scenario that you may encounter out in the real world. More often than not, open-requests will have multiple Hunters and maybe even mercenaries taking the job and the rewards will possibly be given on first-come-first-serve. Let that be a lesson to you three!" he raised his hand dramatically higher, "Mighty as the Grimms are, they are not always your only enemy!"

"The second purpose of this test was to assess your ability to listen and interpret instructions; as you've most certainly noticed by now, all of you had assume that because there was a limited amount of relics then not all of you could succeed. Sadly, I don't believe anyone this year realized my wordplay against them." The three of them grumbled about that stupid trick and the professor took the moment to stroke his mustache. "Hmm, the third purpose of this test was a general assessment of your combat-skills and your reaction to adversity. The fourth and final purpose of this test, well, I'm sure you've already heard the rumors, is to figure out how to create your teams!"

"Teams?" Sieg quickly looked at the girls next to him and pinched his nose.

He had a bad feeling about this.

[...]

"Moving on..."

The debate turned quiet and the numbers dwindled. The staff would soon be ready to announce the teams after they went through the remaining vouched-for teams on the list.

"I don't believe this mismatched team will work out, Professor Port," Glynda Goodwitch voiced her opinion, her stern eyes flitted away from her holo-screen, "It is quite clear that putting both of these girls in the same team is simply a disaster waiting to happen."

"Tragic, truly tragic!" Motor-mouth Bartholomew Oobleck took a heavy gulp of his coffee. "A perfect example of the animosity and discrimination between Humans and Faunus that leads to nothing but violence!"

"Yes, I admit, they're rather rough around the edges but that's nothing a little camaraderie and time won't fix!"

"It is not a matter of being rough, Professor Port. This team has no balance or chemistry at all."

Headmaster Ozpin only half-listened to his staffs' discussion. Certainly, he would take their opinion into account, but the final decision would be up to him about this team's formation. On one hand, Glynda was right about the team having little balance but he could see the chemistry between them — volatile as it was. On the other hand, with all due respect to his old friend, Peter was most definitely understating how rough this team was.

_'Hm.'_

He rewatched their video and reread their transcripts.

He wondered what Peter saw in them. The portly professor was quite adamant about this team as Glynda couldn't persuade him otherwise.

However, Ozpin would be lying if he said that he wasn't interested in this hyper-offensive team. More-so because if he broke up this team then he would need to recreate another three-person team to take its place, and there was no point to that when there was already a decent choice in front of him. Besides, the boy, Sieg Aschelt, would keep the two girls in check and if he couldn't — well — then that was all they were worth.

The headmaster cleared his throat, fingers intertwined, and all eyes turned toward him. His lips curled into a smirk.

"I have made my decision."

[...]

Ruby Rose wasn't entirely sure what to do with her free time.

After their initiation test, the students were given a chance to shower, eat, and get some overall rest, while they waited for the results.

Personally, she wanted to know more about her for-the-rest-of-their-school-years partner but the snow-themed heiress had disappeared somewhere, meanwhile her older sister Yang had gone off looking for her own partner. With no one else to choose, she went looking for Jaune and found him at the dining hall but he was already engaged with a group and Ruby couldn't quite muster up the courage to get in the middle of that.

Ruby felt glum.

She didn't regret her choice of transferring to Beacon Academy early, not at all. But, once again, she found herself wondering how much nicer Beacon could have been if her friends from Signal were here with her too.

She sighed._ 'Well, I'm already here, might as well grab some lunch.'_ She turned around, but before she could take another step, her eyes widened. "Oh wow!" She practically floated over, eyes twinkling, and blurted out the immediate thing on her mind. "It's huge!"

Sieg twisted around, his meal half-finished, and saw a girl dressed in black-and-red behind him. She seemed a tad familiar but he couldn't quite recall where; oddly enough, the first thing he thought about was polka-dots.

She was scratching the back of her head and seemed somewhat ashamed. "...Oh, uh, sorry... I... I'm... I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose! N-Nice to meet'cha! And you are?" She tried to give the biggest smile she could but it was a bit crooked from all the effort.

He shook her hand and tried to placate her with a smile, "Call me, Sieg. Grab a seat."

She quietly took a seat next to him, eyes darting everywhere and body fidgeting every so often, before she could regain her wit and calm. "Sooo, um, Sieg... what kind of weapon is that? I've never seen one quite like it; it's so... _big_!"

He shrugged, "Don't know. It's just some junk I modified from the trash heap back at my hometown. My old man called it an 'ultra-greatsword' though."

She blinked and leaned back. "Huh, that's a sword? The blade is pretty thick, can it even cut anything? Because it seems more like a club than a sword to me."

"You're right about that. It's more about crushing power than anything else."

They talked a bit, with Ruby doing most of the talking, and enjoyed their conversation with one another. It was... nice and quaint. Sieg enjoyed the fact that she wasn't trying to beat the crap out of him and her shy but energetic babble about weapons was somewhat endearing to him. Ruby appreciated the fact that she had something to occupy her time with and that the boy at least made some effort to listen to her, even if most of her words went over his head.

Their chat came to an end when the speakers blared alive.

"Students, please gather at the amphitheater."

The time had come.

[...]

He thought it was rather ironic or perhaps coincidental that Ruby ended up with a team that was pronounced exactly as her name. He wasn't sure if the spunky girl was leadership material but he clapped nonetheless, especially when she took the effort to search for him in the crowd and waved at him.

Eventually the headmaster announced his team and — to his dismay — it was _exactly_ how he imagined it. Grudgingly, the two girls didn't look all too surprised at that revelation either but that didn't stop them from subtly glaring at each other — and at him — all the way up to the stage. It didn't help that he wasn't wearing his mask and the exasperated expression on his face was pretty easy for them to spot.

"And finally: Sieg Aschelt, Lilium Stel'Ciel, and Reah Von Whitestorm." Their mugshots circled into alignment on the two large holo-screens, while the first-letter of their names appeared beneath it. His untidy image was flanked by Icy-Haired Reah's regal-stern expression and the Foul-Mouthed Lilium's stoic face. "The three of you retrieved the Black King piece. From this forward, you will work together as Team RSL; led by Reah Von Whitestorm."

Reah snapped her feet together, chest puffed-up proudly, as she gave a militaristic salute. She was positively beaming.

She was a beauty to behold but still a bitch nonetheless. Honestly, he wasn't looking forward to working under her. Lilium seemed to share the same sentiments as her tail curled in displeasure. But the faunus-girl's psychotic bitchiness made it difficult for him to sympathize with her.

Sieg frowned and scratched the back of his head, his team stepping off the stage to make way, and mumbled, "Well, a team of three can't be too bad, right?"

Their glares of mutual dislike said otherwise.

_'The two of them are going to drive me insane if they don't kill me first!'_

Four years suddenly sounded like a really long time now.

* * *

**Author Notes**

I went and did some edits on Chapters 1-5. But I only recommend a re-read of Chapter 4 since that now gives a bit more insight on Lilium's and Reah's character.

This chapter is a bit choppy but (eh) I may or may not come back to it later.


End file.
